


Lesser of Two Evils

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Partners [78]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Maybe a little humor?, Mega-team because I want to keep them all so I did, Partners verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25482580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Steve wanted to point out that this kidnapping wasn't actually his fault.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Partners [78]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/105629
Comments: 16
Kudos: 273





	Lesser of Two Evils

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently, I will never stop writing these two assholes. Good thing for me I love them so much.

The headache you got after being shot full of chemical sedatives was unlike any other kind of headache in existence.

Steve hadn’t been kidnapped in so long he’d nearly managed to forget that little fact, but there’s some information that stays in the muscle memory. He’d cataloged the fact that he was zip-tied to a metal folding chair, his legs duct-taped to the legs, before he’d even opened his eyes. Memories of the ambush came less than a heartbeat later, six guys coming for him when he was out jogging. He’d managed to take out two of them, careful not to let the fight spill over into any of the nearby houses, but despite the longstanding joke he wasn’t Superman. When the needle full of sedative had come out, it was all over.

He opened his eyes to check the amount of visible light in the storehouse, wondering how long he’d been out. He’d undoubtedly missed breakfast, which would be enough to worry Danny sick. And that was if none of the neighbors had been awake to see what happened and called Danny anyway…

“Lieutenant Commander, how kind of you to finally join us.”

Steve started working the zip tie on his right wrist around to the correct spot, ignoring the slice of pain from the too-tight bindings. Lifting his head, his gaze flicked around to catalog the exact location of the 8 – no, 9, there was someone directly behind him – suited thugs around him as he met the man’s eyes. “And you are?”

The man, wearing a suit that cost twice as much as everyone else’s combined (Danny had gotten into a kick at one point), gave him a self-satisfied smile. Steve didn’t recognize him from any of their intel, which was probably a bad sign. “Names are unimportant here, Lieutenant Commander. All that matters is that the State of Hawaii has someone very important to us, and so we took someone who matters very much to the State of Hawaii in an attempt make the negotiating table more balanced.”

He'd known at first glance they were Yakuza, which meant they were trying to get Inagawa. “I don’t think that’s going to work out for you,” he managed evenly, barely restraining a snort. He knew 5-0 had a fan club, but he was surprised professional criminals had so deeply over-estimated his importance. “The Governor’s not going to negotiate.”

The man’s smile only widened, looking almost shark-like. “I’m afraid you misunderstand. I’m not going to negotiate with the Governor.” He pulled the phone out of his pocket and dialed, pressing the speaker button so everyone could hear it ring.

Steve realized who he was calling before the first ring finished, stomach sinking like a lead weight. “Don’t—”

He didn’t make it any further than that before Danny picked up the phone. “Explain to me why I shouldn’t kill you.” His husband’s voice was hard in a way Steve had almost never heard him be, and something inside Steve’s chest twisted hard. There was a lot of pain in that voice. “Even better, have Steve explain it to me.”

The boss opened his mouth for a monologue, but Steve cut him off. “I’m okay. Danny,” he called out. One of the thugs punched him in the stomach, but he tensed his muscles to take the hit and forced himself not to make a noise of pain Danny would hear. While he was bent over, he also checked the what direction the grain of the duct tape around his ankles was going in. “Sorry I missed breakfast.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and when Danny spoke again his voice was rough. Still, he sounded a hell of a lot more like himself, and that was what really mattered. “This is what happens when you go jogging at obscenely early hours of the morning, you lunatic. You are jogging _armed_ from now on, do you under—”

“Gentlemen!” The boss’s voice, no longer quite so amused with the situation, cut off the rest of what Danny had been about to say. Steve silently started shifting his left wrist tie into the correct position as well. “I think you fail to understand the seriousness of the situation! If you do not have Inagawa out of prison and ready to be delivered to us by 9 o’clock, then I will start sending the Lieutenant Commander back to you in pieces!”

Steve’s jaw clenched, hating the fact that Danny had to hear that. He made another sweep, analyzing the hang of their jackets to note the exact position of everyone’s guns.

On the other end of the phone, Danny’s voice had turned hard again. “You touch a hair on his head, and there is no place on this earth you will be safe from me.” The words were quiet, delivered completely without inflection. “Do you understand me?”

A ripple of unease crossed the boss’s face before he shook it away. “Bring Inagawa to Honolulu Harbor. We’ll have someone meet you.” He hung up the call, fixing Steve with a suddenly analytical look. “Your husband is quite sure of himself for a mere detective.”

Steve let the chill of his SEAL training take over. “I’m more interested in how you managed to tail me. I must be off my game if I didn’t pick up on the fact I was being watched.”

Smugness started to leak back into his expression. “In this modern day and age, Lieutenant Commander, we’re always being watched. So many of your neighbors have set up private security cameras to keep thieves and vandals from stealing their precious little toys.” His lips curved again. “All of it so convenient when we need to borrow their eyes.”

Shit. The team was going to have to look into that. “That still doesn’t explain how you got six guys into the neighborhood. Like you said, the people there tend to keep an eye out.”

Now the man openly scoffed. “Do you think a man like me concerns themselves with the attention of insipid little housewives and househusbands? Anyone with sense knows to stay—”

He might have kept talking for a few more words after that, but Steve was no longer listening. It wasn’t easy to do a backwards flip when you were tied to a metal chair, especially when you hadn’t needed to do anything that ridiculously dramatic in at least a year, but Steve had been preparing himself for it since the moment he opened his eyes. He flung his entire weight backwards, kicking his legs up and out at just the right force and angle to rip the duct tape. This let him get the rest of the way around, torqueing the weakest point on the zip ties just enough to snap… okay, one of them. He could work with that.

All this happened in a blink of an eye, one only he had been prepared for. He surged to his feet, using the metal chair as a weapon to take out the two thugs next to him. He grabbed one of their guns before they went down, taking a third guy out just in time for his shot to go wild before shooting the fourth and fifth. Another thug went down by a bullet Steve _hadn’t_ fired, which is when the others realized that trying to shoot him in close quarters wasn’t in their best interest.

He deflected one kick with the chair, shot another thug, then dropped his gun and grabbed another before delivering his own kick to take out a second. One got in a lucky punch that Steve countered with an elbow to the face, then pistol-whipped a fourth before shooting a fifth (they probably kept getting back up. He didn’t bother keeping count.) Another strike with a chair, all of Steve’s force behind it, and all nine were finally on the ground and prepared to stay there.

But they were far from the only threat. He immediately aimed the gun at the boss, who already had his own gun pointed at Steve. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“I imagine you wouldn’t.” The man’s voice was ice-cold now, all smugness gone as he faced down Steve. “You impressed me, Lieutenant Commander. I had assumed the stories about you were nothing more than urban legends. You are hardly a young man, after all.”

“Some things you never forget.” The real reason was that he had infinitely more incentive to stay alive, but he wasn’t going to tell this man that. “But I’m actually the lesser of two evils here. You’ll be lucky if I manage to take care of this before Danny shows up.”

The man’s eyes narrowed as he tried to circle around. Steve matched him, always in step. “I refuse to believe the stories about him are true. The man’s barely taller than my _niece_.”

Steve’s aim didn’t waiver. “You keep me here long enough, and I’m sure he’ll show you.”

“Be reasonable, Lieutenant Commander.” The man’s aim didn’t waiver, either. “I can consider the loss of the men as a business expense, but it’s foolish to die just because you insist on making a point. I need you alive far more than I want you dead, but if you keep making things difficult for me I’m afraid I’ll have to end this and find alternative means for returning Inagawa to us.” A trace of the smugness returned, but this time it felt far more dangerous. “Besides, I imagine your arm is tiring. Getting kidnapped is quite an exhausting business.”

He was used to pushing aside pain. “And I imagine I’m a better shot than you are.”

“That may be.” The man kept moving, always looking for the opening Steve refused to give him. “But do you really want to risk it? I have killed a great many people, Lieutenant Commander, and it would a matter of minor inconvenience to add your name to—”

Whatever else he’d been about to say was cut off by the sound of gunshots. He dropped to the ground to reveal Danny lowering his weapon, flanked by the rest of the team. Steve dropped his own gun, relief a heady thing inside him. “I tried to warn him.”

Danny holstered his weapon, the relief on his own face enough to make Steve’s throat tighten. “That you’re a lunatic? I thought everyone on the island knew that by now.” He pulled out a pocketknife, cutting away the zip tie still attached to the chair. “Since they don’t, maybe I should put up posters.”

The rest of the team was scanning the room, arresting the few people that were conscious and alive enough to be arrested. “Did you really not leave us _anyone_?” Tani asked. “With Jerry already tracking the security cameras back before Danny even got the call, we only took like _five_ minutes to get here. I have some rage at my boss being kidnapped I was hoping to work through.”

“Sorry.” He looked at Danny, who was still focused on getting the zip tie loose as gently as he possibly could. His grip on Steve’s arm, however, was just a little too tight for him to really be as calm as he was pretending. “I was trying to apologize for letting myself get kidnapped.”

Kono just grinned as she hauled her guy up off the ground. “You know full well there are much better ways to do that, Boss.”

Chin gave them both a much less wicked smile as he grabbed his own guy. “Though you might want to wait until Steve’s gotten the chance to get cleaned up first.” He shot an amused glance at Kono. “Some of us don’t find blood as much of an aphrodisiac as others.”

Junior just grinned, taking care of his own guy as he looked over at Steve. “Glad to see you’re okay, Sir.”

They all filed out just as Danny managed to get the zip tie free, the chair falling with a clank as his attention turned to the cuts they’d made in Steve’s wrists. “Shit.” He smoothed the blood away with his thumb. “Come on. We need to get this—”

The words cut off when Steve gently tugged him forward. A heartbeat later, they were wrapped around each other so tightly there was barely any room for air between them.

“Damn it,” he breathed, voice unsteady now as he pressed his face tight against Steve’s neck. “I stopped bracing myself for shit like this. But I woke up and you were still _gone_ and I just—”

Danny’s voice cracked at that, and Steve squeezed his eyes shut and just let himself cling. “I’m sorry.” His voice was rough. “But I do feel like I should point out that this kidnapping wasn’t actually my fault.”

“I’ll admit the kidnappings are rarely your fault.” Danny pulled back just enough to look at him, his hands lifting to cup the sides of Steve’s face. “It’s all the other shit you do to yourself that I blame you for.”

“Hey, I’ve been injury free for almost an entire year now,” Steve protested. “That deserves some kind of reward.”

“People who make it a whole year without getting injured get rewards. Mr. Dead Yakuza Asshole ruined that for you.”

“And you saved me anyway.” Throat tightening again, Steve leaned his forehead against Danny’s. “I was on my way back to you. I promise.”

“I know you were.” Danny’s voice was thick. “But you were taking too damn long.”

The kiss started out surprisingly gentle, no doubt Danny being kind of any post-kidnapping injuries, but when Steve pushed it didn’t take much to get Danny to follow. The heat between them was as familiar as always, an eternally burning fire, but in moments like this there was an edge of desperation to it. A reminder that there would never be enough time, no matter how much of it they got, and they needed to make sure they spent ever single second of it—

“Hey, you two!” Lou called out from the doorway. “Unless you want to walk home, you’d better stop kissing long enough to get in the damn car.”

They broke apart with a grin. “Right behind you, Lou.”

Arms wrapped around each other, they took their first steps toward home.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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